List of presidents of the United States by age

This is a list of presidents of the United States by age. The first table charts the age of each United Statespresident at the time of presidential inauguration (first inauguration if elected to multiple and consecutive terms), upon leaving office, and at the time of death. Each president's lifespan (age at death) is measured in two ways, to allow for the differing number of leap days that each experienced. The first figure is the number of days between the president's date of birth and date of death, allowing for leap days; in parentheses, the same period is given in years and days, with the years being the number of whole years that the president lived, and the days being the number of days since the last birthday. Where the president is still living, their lifespan is calculated up to February 17, 2018. The second table includes those presidents who had the distinction among their peers of being the oldest living president, and charts both when they became and ceased to be oldest living.

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Age of U.S. presidents

Age of presidents when assuming office approximately follows a bell curve (mean age marked by red line, c. 55.5 years)

The median age upon accession to the presidency is roughly 55 years and 6 months. This is about how old Benjamin Harrison was at the time of his inauguration. The youngest person to assume the office was Theodore Roosevelt, who became president at the age of 7004156620000000000♠42 years, 322 days, following William McKinley's assassination; the oldest was Donald Trump, who was 7004257880000000000♠70 years, 220 days old at his inauguration. The youngest person to be elected president was John F. Kennedy, at 7004158690000000000♠43 years, 163 days of age on election day; the oldest was Ronald Reagan, who was 7004269370000000000♠73 years, 274 days old at the time of his election to a second term.

Assassinated three years into his term, John F. Kennedy was the youngest at the time of leaving office (7004169780000000000♠46 years, 177 days); the youngest president to leave office at the conclusion of a normal transition was Theodore Roosevelt (7004183900000000000♠50 years, 128 days). The oldest at the time of leaving office was Ronald Reagan (7004284730000000000♠77 years, 349 days).

Born on May 29, 1917, John F. Kennedy was younger than four of his successors, the greatest number to date: Lyndon Johnson (8 years, 9 months, and 2 days); Ronald Reagan (6 years, 3 months, and 23 days); Richard Nixon (4 years, 4 months, and 16 days); and Gerald Ford (3 years, 10 months, and 15 days).

Born on February 11, 1911, Ronald Reagan was older than four of his predecessors, the greatest number to date: Richard Nixon (1 year, 11 months, and 7 days); Gerald Ford (2 years, 5 months, and 8 days); John F. Kennedy (6 years, 3 months, and 23 days); and Jimmy Carter (13 years, 7 months, and 25 days).

Three presidents—Donald Trump, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton—were born in 1946 (all within the span of 9 weeks). This is the only calendar year in which three presidents have been born. Two presidents—James K. Polk and Warren G. Harding—were born on November 2 (70 years apart). This is the only day of the year having the birthday of multiple presidents.[1]

The oldest living U.S. president is George H. W. Bush, born June 12, 1924 (age 7004342180000000000♠93 years, 250 days). The second oldest, Jimmy Carter, has the distinction of having the longest post-presidency in U.S. history, currently at 7004135420000000000♠37 years, 28 days. The youngest living president is Barack Obama, born August 4, 1961 (age 7004206510000000000♠56 years, 197 days). On November 25, 2017, Bush also became the longest-lived president, surpassing the lifespan of Gerald Ford, who died at the age of 7004341330000000000♠93 years, 165 days on December 26, 2006. The shortest-lived president to have died by natural causes (thereby excluding John F. Kennedy and James A. Garfield, who were both assassinated) was James K. Polk, who died of cholera at the age of 7004195830000000000♠53 years, 225 days; only 103 days after leaving office.

Six U.S. presidents have lived into their 90s. They are (in order of birth):

Oldest living U.S. presidents

Of the 44 persons who have served as president, 24 have become the oldest such individual of their time. Herbert Hoover held this distinction for the longest period of any, from the death of Calvin Coolidge in January 1933 until his own death 31 years later. Lyndon B. Johnson held it for the shortest, from the death of Harry S. Truman in December 1972 until his own death only 27 days later.

On three occasions the oldest living president lost this distinction not by his death, but by the inauguration of a president who was older. Theodore Roosevelt (born 1858) lost this distinction when William Taft (born 1857) was inaugurated, then four years later Taft lost it when Woodrow Wilson (born 1856) was inaugurated. More recently, Richard Nixon (born 1913) ceased being the oldest living president when Ronald Reagan (born 1911) was inaugurated. Furthermore, although Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest ever to become both the oldest living president (at age 50) and a former president (at age 51), he was the only living president or former president by the end of his term. Consequently, Taft was the oldest living president twice: first during his presidency (having succeeded the younger Roosevelt), and a second time after Wilson (his successor as president but an older man) died. Gerald Ford was the oldest individual to acquire this distinction at the age of 90.

On seven occasions, the oldest living president has acquired this distinction during his term in office. In the cases of John Adams, Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon, this happened at the same time as their becoming the only living president; in the cases of Andrew Jackson and Benjamin Harrison, the only other living president at the time was a younger predecessor (John Quincy Adams and Grover Cleveland respectively).